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We're back with another stacked edition of the daily WWE Rumor Roundup. Payback was quite an eventful pay-per-view for the WWE, and there are several significant stories to cover in the aftermath of the show.
We now know the possible reason behind Randy Orton losing clean to Keith Lee at Payback. There is also some major concern amongst the fans about Brock Lesnar's future on the back of an astonishing development.
A veteran from RAW also rejected an exciting proposal about leading a faction. Details of the impending split between Sasha Banks and Bayley have also been revealed.
Last but certainly not least, we have updates about the plans for Roman Reigns' Universal Championship reign.
#5. Possible reason why Randy Orton lost clean to Keith Lee at WWE Payback
Randy Orton lost to Keith Lee at Payback, and the surprising aspect of the match was that it was just over six minutes long.
Keith Lee got put over big time by the Legend Killer, but what was the reason behind the booking decision?
Dave Meltzer noted on the Wrestling Observer Radio that Randy Orton losing to Keith Lee could be a precursor for another WWE title reign for the 13-time World Champion.
Randy Orton could end up beating Drew McIntyre, presumably at Clash of Champions, before having a series of matches against Keith Lee further down the line for the WWE title.
Here's what Meltzer explained on the latest edition of the Observer Radio:
"The only upset was Keith Lee's quick win over Orton, and I thought that result just made sense. I think that the one thing is that, to me, as soon as I saw that result, I was like, 'Orton is winning the title from Drew McIntyre after all. I don't know that, but that was the immediate conclusion I came to. And they are setting up for Orton vs. Keith Lee title matches as well.
So, if Orton is going to win the title, him losing to Keith Lee, I wouldn't say it was a no-brainer; it's WWE, they could have easily not done it, but they did it, and it wasn't a great match at all, you know six minutes and just a pin out of nowhere but just him winning, from a storyline standpoint, everything like that and a star-creating standpoint, it was a good move."
#4. Brock Lesnar removed from online WWE store
In what has caught most of the fan base off guard, WWE has strangely removed Brock Lesnar's pages from all its online stores.
It's also interesting to note that the links to Brock Lesnar's merchandise also appear to be broken. The Brock Lesnar pages can't be found on WWE Shop and WWE Euroshop. For the complete story, including screenshots and other surprising details, you can check out Sportskeeda's Danny Hart's in-depth article on the latest development.
The fans have naturally caught wind of Brock Lesnar being removed from WWE's online stores, and there is apparent concern over his future in the company.
Roman Reigns is now the new Paul Heyman guy, and WWE is yet to address Brock Lesnar's status and what it means for the Beast Incarnate going forward.
Lesnar has not appeared on WWE TV since WrestleMania 36, and as of this writing, we have no information on his return. The former WWE Champion was rumored to return for SummerSlam, but WWE nixed the reported plan due to the pandemic.
WWE has not mentioned Brock Lesnar on TV despite Paul Heyman becoming an advocate for Reigns. As always, we will keep you updated on Brock Lesnar's status.
#3. MVP rejects WWE's proposal
Alex McCarthy exclusively reported for Sportskeeda earlier that MVP rejected WWE's idea to lead a Nation of Domination 2.0 stable.
McCarthy reported that the company was all set to introduce a reincarnated version of NOD, but the plan was nixed, and sources indicated that the situation isn't expected to change.
Alex McCarthy revealed the following in his exclusive report, which has more details on WWE's original plans for NOD 2.0:
Multiple reports surfaced suggesting that WWE were ready to present a modern-day incarnation of the popular Attitude Era stable that helped jettison The Rock to superstardom, but as of yet, it hasn't come to pass. According to sources inside WWE, it's going to stay that way. WWE wanted MVP to lead the stable, but he rejected the idea.
MVP had revealed on Say Less With Kaz & Lowkey in July that he had no interest in rehashing the Nation of Domination.
MVP is currently the leader of Hurt Business, which has done a fine job of rehabbing the characters of Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin on TV.
McCarthy also revealed that MVP has a positive backstage influence, and he is using it to help deserving yet underutilized talents get a piece of the spotlight. MVP is playing his veteran role backstage tremendously well, and the WWE officials are said to be very happy.
#2. Plans for Roman Reigns' WWE Universal Championship reign, new in-ring gear?
Roman Reigns became the new Universal Champion at WWE Payback by defeating Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt.
The Big Dog won the Championship like a true heel as he joined the party late after Strowman and Wyatt had already beaten each other down. Reigns delivered a low blow to The Fiend before spearing Braun Strowman to get the pinfall and the Universal title in the process.
WrestlingNews.co now reports that Vince McMahon wants Roman Reigns to have a long reign with the WWE Universal Championship.
A WWE source told WrestlingNews.co the following:
"Vince is not playing around. He wants Roman to hold onto that belt until WrestleMania at least. Everyone knows the fans will cheer him and we all expect him to be a babyface sooner than later but the games with the silly verbiage in promos are done with. Roman will have more input this time with his promos."
It was also reported that Paul Heyman would be closely involved in the creative plans for Roman Reigns' title reign and storylines. The report also added that there are talks about Roman Reigns possibly getting new gear or even wrestling without a shirt in the near future.
#1. Details of the Sasha Banks-Bayley split, WWE's original plans
Sasha Banks and Bayley lost the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships to Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax at Payback.
Dave Meltzer noted on the Wrestling Observer Radio that the title loss was unsurprisingly another step towards the inevitable split between Bayley and Sasha Banks.
It was revealed that WWE originally wanted to book Banks vs. Bayley at WrestleMania 36. The plan was nixed and pushed back for this year's SummerSlam; however, WWE's delayed plan couldn't come to fruition either.
The company may have finally felt that the time is right to pull the trigger on the breakup angle. While Meltzer explained that splitting up Bayley and Banks right now may not be the ideal call as the duo are doing a great job, WWE officials must have made up their minds on breaking up the Golden Role Models.
"Well, the thing is that the match and as far as the Championship and all that are really not that important as the steps in the Bayley and Sasha Banks break up thing. This is just another step in their story. I mean, I would delay it longer because they are doing so well with it, but you know they wanted to do it for this year's WrestleMania, then it was going to be SummerSlam, and we're past SummerSlam and all that. At some point, I think they just figured we got to do it. I still think it's too soon; that was the deal."
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